Product Reviews Written by jmw19

I want to like this eraser, but a couple of flaws keep it from being a
favorite.
The triangular shape should allow precision erasing, but once you've worn a
corner down, the precision is lost. After a few erasures, you're left with a big
round eraser.
The mechanism doesn't hold the eraser in place well, so direct pressure will
push the eraser back into the body. Side-to-side is okay, but combined with the
above, it loses the precision the triangular shape could deliver.
The eraser itself is good, not abrasive at all, and very effective. I don't find
the shavings to be sticky or hard to brush off, and HB markings are 98% removed.
If the clutch could hold the eraser in place better, this could be perfect.

I'm fascinated with brush pens for some reason, so I picked this up recently. I
really like the double tips, though both are fairly soft and take some finesse
to use well. That's true with all brush pens, though, so it's not a bad thing.
The slim tip is capable of hairlines, so in one pen, you've got a very wide
range of line widths. The ink doesn't seem as dark as the Kuretake pen, or the
Sailor Kiwaguro ink in the Fude pens, but it has a nice sheen when dry that the
others don't.
Water resistance seems quite good, with a tiny bit of smearing from the slim
end, but I believe that's extra ink that didn't soak into the page.
Overall, a bargain for the price, and a fun tool to carry around.

I was so happy to see this at Jetpens. I've got 4 other Kuru Toga pencils, from
the plastic and metal collections, but I saw these Alpha Gel models while
browsing Ebay. I had to have one, and love that I could get it in a few days,
instead of waiting on international shipping.
The pencil itself is great. I like a wider grip, and the gel is very
comfortable. The hardest part of using a Kuru Toga is not rotating the pencil as
you write, since it does it for you. I find myself rotating the other models as
I go, but the gel seems to help me remember to keep it stationary.
This version is also pretty light, close to the plastic model, so it's
comfortable for long stretches of writing. Highly recommended.

These sign pens are becoming my favorites, because they feel right in my hand,
and write so well. I like broad nibs in fountain pens, but sometimes they put
down too much ink. These make a nice broad line, but don't leave pools of ink
behind. Plus you can replace the tips if they wear out, or add a highlighter
tip, instead of tossing the pen in the trash.

For about the same price as a "normal" mechanical pencil, here's one that just
works better.
I like the lead rotation, even though I tend to hold the pencil at a very high
angle, so the effect is less noticeable. The bigger benefit to me is the slight
cushioning of the lead from the rotation mechanism. I've had no breakage of the
.5mm lead, and I suspect I could use a .3mm without a problem as well.

The design is pretty good, though I wish the clip was removable.

The only drawback I can see is that the lead only rotates when the lead contacts
the paper. Thus, if you use cursive, you'll get 1 or 2 movements per word, while
printing would have 1 to 4 per letter.